Honestly, I played *** when they had the memory leak; and, in my opinion, this is not it. I'm more inclined to go with server-side hardware issues; as has just been mentioned. I do find one more possibility interesting though; and I speculate, due to some things I have noticed, but not seen before.

Client communication with the server is an issue. This is obvious, due to the inconsistency of reliable information from the client; which will not indicate server status correctly, in the event of a unscheduled maintenace. During an emergency shutdown, as we just had; it shows the status, only when you log in, and not before. There is also a history of client server fetch errors occuring; as indicated by the retrieving character list bug that seems fairly common. I also noticed, a lack of connection, temporarily; when changing area's earlier. There was a notice to indicate the client couldn't connect to the server, at the time; which resolved itself shortly after. ..systems also seem to be unreachable; as in the case of Pico, right before the emergency shutdown today.

First off, I think that server load is a problem; there are far more connections, than perhaps were anticipated, this early in the game. Second, I tend to think there are--most importantly--bandwidth issues; with which the client-server communications have to contend. This is not exactly the same as server hardware issues; though, it is certainly closely related in effect and technology.

I was almost shocked aerlier; when I read the 'Warning' about thermal overheating issues. lol ..yeah, thats funny. It's not often you see dev's make comments of that sort; and indicates to me, that they have some code issues to work around, or we have to meet the demands of the game. For now, I just tuned down Anisotropic filtering and anti-alliasing, as well as setting it for low bloom; as I noticed this worked with Champion online, though the problem was nowhere near as severe. I really do enjoy the textures; and find a reduction in glow, and pit of edginess, a fair trade for them.

I believe, the client-side is a little overburdened with a CPU and GPU intensive game; however, I realize it is part of having a game of this sort aviailble, and playable. Lag is a bit much too, with frequent choke-points occuring; on cross-communication, between the server and client.

So, the prognosis, is that it is indeed a hardware-sourced bottleneck; which keeps us from thoroughly enjoying the game for endless hours, of Trek filled fun.

Cheers,